Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698938915793.pdf (South Africa)
REQUEST FOR QUOTATION: Women's Charter Review Final Report (Please see details below) Date of Issue: 24 /02/2021 Closing Date: 01/03/2021 Quotation Reference Number: RFQ140/2021 Item Quotation Description Quantity Delivery Price in South African Number Required Period/Training Currency (inclusive of Dates VAT) Women's Charter Review Final Report (Please see details below) V Jakuja ……………………………………………………………….
FOR SECRETARY TO PARLIAMENT (BUSINESS UNIT OR SCM TO SIGN HERE) GENERAL CONDITIONS  Quotations will be evaluated on 80 /20 Scoring System   80 points allocated for price and 20 points allocated for BBBEE & Preferential Procurement Points will be awarded to bidders for attaining the B-BBEE status level of contributor in accordance with the table below.
B-BBEE Status level of contributor Number of points Points claimed by the bidder Non –compliant contributor 20 18 14 12 8 6 4 2 0  All suppliers responding to quotation should be registered on Central Supplier Database (CSD)   The quotation must be emailed to vjakuja@parliament.gov.za Further information regarding this quote may be obtained from Kevin Christians on kchristians@parliament.gov.za or 081 538 7864  All quotations received after the closing date will not be accepted  Acceptance of a quotation will be subject to Parliament’s own Supply Chain Management policy  All suppliers are required to fill in and submit the Declaration of Interest Certificate below  A current list of references where similar work was undertaken shoul d be supplied  All suppliers must submit valid tax pin and Broad Based Economic Empowerment Status Level Certificates SPECIFIC CONDITIONS            The appointment of the service provider will not necessarily be on the basis of the lowest quote.
Quotes should be detailed and specify the services and cost, market related prices will be negotiated with the preferred service provider.

Parliament reserves the right not to award the contract.

Quotes should be on the company letterhead, indicating the VAT registration number.

Companies are prohibited from using Parliament’s logo on their proposal.

The declaration of interest form must be filled in, signed and returned with the quotation.
Failure to complete and stamp the declaration of interest form may result in the disqualification of the quotation.

Failure to submit all documents as required will result in disqualification .
Parliament cannot award contracts to provide goods and services to a Member of Parliament, or Cabinet, A Member of a Provincial Legislature or Member of the Provincial Executive Council, a Municipal Councillor, a person in the employ of state whose participation in quotation process for the contract may result in a conflict of interest, or any entity in which any of the mentioned persons is a director or has controlling or other substantial interest.
Parliament may request service providers to provide additional pricing information to be utilised for comparative purposes during evaluations.

Parliament reserves the right, for purposes of promoting the values of competitiveness and fairness, not to award the RFQ/bid to the highest scoring bidder if such a bidder has been awarded a bid by Parliament or has performed services for Parliament, during the last 12 months prior to the closing date of the RFQ/bid.
 Parliament reserves the right to re-appoint or extend the service of the service provider where there is a natural continuation of assignments.
RFQ | Effective August 2019 SUPPLIER INFORMATION FORM REGISTERED NAME TRADING NAME (IF APPLICABLE) COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER (or ID) BBBEE STATUS LEVEL BBBEE CERTIFICATE EXPIRY DATE VAT REGISTRATION NUMBER CENTRAL SUPPLIER DATABASE NUMBER TAX COMPLIANCE STATUS PIN TAX COMPLIANCE STATUS PIN EXPIRY DATE INCOME TAX NUMBER ADDRESS PHYSICAL ADDRESS CITY/TOWN POSTAL CODE ADDRESS POSTAL ADDRESS CITY/TOWN CONTACT DETAILS POSTAL CODE OFFICE CELLPHONE FAX EMAIL BANK DETAILS CONTACT PERSON BANK NAME BRANCH CODE ACCOUNT NUMBER ACCOUNT NAME  I …………………………………………hereby certify that the above information is correct and that I and other members, directors, managers, or shareholders with a controlling or other substantial interest of the entity, are not Members of Parliament or Cabinet, Members of a Provincial Legislature or a Provincial Executive Council, Municipal Councillors, persons employed by the State as their participation in Parliament’s procurement process may result in a conflict of interest.
 I am also declaring that none of the entities in the company who is a director or has a controlling or substantial interest fall under the category of the person mentioned above.
(Additional details to be provided should this declaration not be correct)  I also agree that, in the event of false, incorrect or misleading information being provided in this declaration, the Secretary to Parliament of the Republic of South Africa shall have the right to recover any losses or damages sustained by Parliament under such agreement and/or restrict th e supplier from further business depending on the materiality of the misrepresentat ion and the degree of prejudice.
_____________________________ _________________________ Signature Date (Attach a bank confirmation letter or cancelled cheque to confirm bank account numbe RFQ | Effective August 2019 PRODUCT OR SERVICE DESCRIPTION Terms of Reference Background 2019 marked 25 Years since the adoption of the 1994 Women’s Charter for Effective Equality.
This 25 Year milestone, necessitates the commencement of a process to review the entire women’s rights regime, in order to effectively take stock of the achievements garnered, while assessing the systemic weaknesses that continue to impede the progressive advancement of gender equality in South Africa.

The August 2019 Women’s Parliament served as a launching pad to kick -start Provincial Review Sessions of the 1994 Women’s Charter for effective Equality.
Within the broader context of the Women’s Charter, provincial review sessions will take stock and assess the women’s rights regime in its entirety, including all policy and legislative instruments in place, identify policy gaps and make proposals for amendments.
Review processes will also assess the efficacy of structural arrangements in place, particularly as they pertain to the National Gender Machinery, Gender budgeting processes, and what provinces and districts ha ve done to implement the articles of the 1994 women’s Charter for effective equality, and related matters.
Furthermore, review processes will culminate in the adoption of improved policy and legislative oversight mechanisms, while advancing to remove all structural, institutional and cultural barriers that continue to impact the pace of transformation as it pertains to gender equality in South Africa.
RFQ | Effective August 2019 Additional Background With the 25 Year Milestone of the Women’s Charter for effective Equality as the Backdrop, providing both scope and context for the review and analysis of the entire women’s rights regime, the 2019 Women’s Parliament intended to commence strategic discussions in the Sixth Parliament around all matters of policy, legislation and structural arrang ements that pertain to women empowerment in South Africa.
Review processes will run over the course of 2019 and 2020, culminating in the production of a report that will include both qualitative and quantitative perspectives of the policies, laws and systemic arrangements in place, with the objective of setting the tone in a crystalized manner, giving guidance to apex priority areas that must be the focus to enable the attainment of gender equality.
Global Perspectives on Gender Based Violence The IPU’s 2014 outcome document of the general debate on the theme achieving gender equality, ending violence against women asserts that it is essential to monitor the implementation of laws and policies.

The oversight role of parliamentarians is key and must be strengthened, including by building partnerships across parties and with civil society movements.

Furthermore, women’s voices must also be heard.


Women in leadership positions have the power to take specific action in response to the interests of and challenges faced by other women whose voices are not being heard or taken into account.
The IPU’s 2014 outcome document of the general debate on the theme achieving gender equality, ending violence against women also asserted that addressing violence against women should be advanced by looking at power relations; confronting patriarchy, which permeates all aspects of our societies; changing mentalities; and challenging the social roles and stereotypes that we have internalized, including those related to men As espoused by the IPU, effective change in attaining gender equality requires both a strong institutional framework as well as national bodies with the power to take action.
The IPU further asserts the imperative to ensure that parliaments’ capacity is strengthened to put an end to violence against women and to achieve gender equality.

Implementation of the IPU Plan of Action for Gender-sensitive Parliaments should serve as a reference as reforms are introduced to strengthen Parliament conduct better oversight for better outcomes in improving women’s quality of life.
RFQ | Effective August 2019 Enhanced implementation of laws in place to curb GBV requires a coordinated community-based response to violence in which all stakeholders – including governments, parliaments, police, prosecutors, judges, health-care providers, social workers, women’s organizations and religious and community leaders – have a role to play1.
According to the United Nations (UN), violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today and remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.

Violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined.
In general terms, it manifests itself in physical, sexual and psychological forms, encompassing:   intimate partner violence (battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, f emicide); sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment);  human trafficking (slavery, sexual exploitation);  female genital mutilation; and  child marriage2.
Figures published by the World Health Organization in 2016 estimate that one out of every three women worldwide has experienced violence at the hands of a partner, or sexual violence by someone other than a partner.

This global snapshot depicts a global phenomenon, which has not received the appropriate focused attention to reverse its devastating impact.
1 IPU Outcome document of the general debate “achieving gender equality, ending violence against women” endorsed by the 131st IPU Assembly (Geneva, 16 October 2014) 2 United Nations on Gender Based Violence RFQ | Effective August 2019 Gender Based Violence in South Africa Gender-based violence (GBV) is a profound and widespread problem in South Africa, impacting on almost every aspect of life.
GBV (which disproportionately affects women and girls) is systemic, and deeply entrenched in institutions, cultures and traditions in South Africa 3.

South Africa is a signatory to a number of international treaties to protect women’s rights, and has a strong legislative framework in place which includes the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) (1998), the Sexual Offences Act (2007) and the Prevention and Combatting of Trafficking in Human Persons (2013) Act”4.
Despite the treaties, policies and legislative instruments in place, GBV has cumulatively and significantly escalated over the years.

Mounting concerns relating to the alarming levels of GBV in South Africa, culminated in the hosting of the 2018 National GBV and femicide Summit, with the President of the Republic in attendance, alongside civil society formations and organizations.
The summit which was held in November 2018, took place in response to marches across the country under the banner of #Total Shutdown.

Since the GBV summit took place in 2018, Parliament has not yet responded to the resolutions adopted and the key issues raised at the summit.
While the summit created a national platform to deliberate on the severity and devastating impact of GBV on the lives of women and girls in South Africa, various civil society formations and faith based organizations continue to call on the state to develop a comprehensive response programme to address the scourge of GBV.
In order to strengthen response programmes, the legislative sector, as a key component of the state machinery has a significant role to play in aligning its oversight process across all spheres and localities, in a manner that signifies decisive action by the legislative sector to end GBV.
To achieve this objective, the effective functioning of the National Gender Safer Spaces, working together for a safer South Africa- https://www.saferspaces.org.za/understand/entry/gender-based-violence-in- south-africa3 4 Moolman, B.

Human Sciences Research Council (HRSC) (2016).

Research Report on the Status of Gender-based Violence Civil Society Funding in South Africa.
RFQ | Effective August 2019 Machinery will play a significant enabling role, in the advance to reduce the pervasive levels of GBV across provinces and localities.

Enhancing the Oversight Role of the Legislative Sector The legislative sector has a critical role to play in ensuring that it activates its oversight and accountability machinery, in a manner that would significantly advance the implementation of the women’s rights regime.
Therefore, enhancing the capability of the legislative sector to conduct impact-based oversight is imperative, particularly in the context of South Africa’s developmental state, where weaknesses in state capacity also contribute towards the slowed pace of delivery and transformation.
During the sixth dispensation, legislative sector committees and structures that must give focus to women empowerment, should make every effort to enable proper three sphere oversight coordination, so as to enable greater impact in advancing gender equality.
While the role of Parliament is to ensure the progressive implementation of laws that improve the overall quality of life of all South Africans, the 2019 Women’s Parliament will particularly focus on crystalizing its response and approach to addressing matters relating to GBV.
Towards Strengthening the National Gender Machinery to address Pervasive levels of GBV In 2017, Parliament hosted an international conference entitled, ‘Women and the Changing World of Work – Giving Effect to the Sixty-First Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.’ One of the resolutions adopted at the conference was to strengthen the capacity, resources and the authority of national gender equality mechanisms so that they can support and monitor the implementation of action plans.
Each of the Women’s Parliaments hosted over the course of the Fifth Parliament adopted a resolution on the strengthening of the National Gender Machinery (NGM).

Consequently, the Multi-Party Women’s Caucus, in 2018, noted that Parliament should initiate a session with a view to engaging on the challenges currently affecting the work of the national gender machinery.
Addressing the challenges that are currently impeding the functionality of the NGM will go a long way in enabling a three sphere coor dinated oversight approach to reduce the impact and pervasive nature of GBV.

RFQ | Effective August 2019 The Multi-Party Women’s Caucus noted that if the challenges facing the National Gender Machinery were resolved, that the many other challenges pertaining to service delivery from a gender perspective and enacting gender sensitive public policy would be addressed.
Upon signing the declaration against GBV and femicide in March 2019, the President of the Republic also conceded that we are in crisis and hence that the pervasive natur e of violent crimes against women and girls as well as the onslaught against women is cumulatively intensifying.

In his June 2019 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa further reiterated his recognition that ‘violent crime is a societal problem that requires a society-wide response.
The President further stated that there are processes underway, working with civil society organisations on strategies to end gender based violence and femicide.
He further stated that there are also processes underway towards the establishment of the Gender Based Violence and Femicide Council and a National Strategic Plan that will give guidance to strengthen efforts to eradicate this national scourge 5.” The establishment of additional systems and mechanisms to address the GBV scourge, requires a proactive three sphere oversight response by the legislative sector, so as to ensure greater impact in a shorter space of time.
Background to the National Gender Machinery At a regional level, most countries on the African continent have put in place institutional mechanisms for the advancement of gender equity.
Fifteen states report that they have a Ministry on Women, 23 have ministries where women’s issues a re combined with other issues such as families and children and six have smaller structures such as women’s bureaus or councils.6 The national gender machinery, in South Africa and elsewhere, has yielded some successes in promoting women’s rights.
Notwithstanding the fact that there have been times when the work of the national gender machinery has been hampered by constraints, it has, to some extent, created opportunities for the participation of women.
There have been some significant achievements in terms of legislative and policy reform that can be associated with the national gender machinery, an achievement associated with other such institutional 5 President CM Ramaphosa’s June 2019 State of the Nation Address 6 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2014 RFQ | Effective August 2019 mechanisms worldwide.
In some instances, national gender machineries have also played an important role in shaping socially conservative discourses on gender issues.

The Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women in the early years following its inception, was instrumental in the conceptualisation of key pieces of legislation that promote women’s rights such as the Domestic Violence Act (Act No 116 of 1998) and the Maintenance Act (Act No 99 of 1998).
The Portfolio Committee on Women has a proven record of accomplishment in trying to monitor the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act and in trying to address problems in this regard.

The Commission for Gender Equality was also active in legislative and policy reform and, together with civil society organisations such as the Gender Advocacy Project (GAP), played a critical role in the 50/50 campaign, a campaign aimed at increasing the representation of women in public office.
The former Office on the Status of Women engineered the drafting of the National Policy Framework for Women’s Empowerment and notwithstanding the fact that the policy was never properly implemented; it had a relatively ambitious vision in trying to ensure that a gendered analysis was incorporated into the work of all government departments.

Unfortunately, this never quite saw the light of day .
The National Machinery in South Africa The institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality were fought for by the Women’s National Coalition and held great promise for the incorporation of gender into state processes.

The national gender machinery, when first conceptualised, was envisaged to become the conduit through which gender rights were taken up in the state.

It was seen as being an important platform for channelling related policy concerns and issues.
When first established, the national gender machinery took its role of engaging in public consultation on gender issues seriously and embarked upon many information gathering and evaluation workshops.

The establishment of the national gender machinery was located in South Africa’s National Policy Framework for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (henceforth ‘the Gender Policy’).
The Gender Policy created for the following structures of the NGM: RFQ | Effective August 2019 Structure of the National Gender Machinery Government Parliament Independent Bodies Civil Society The Presidency Portfolio Constitutional Court Non- Government Organisations Committees (including the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of the Quality of Life and Status of Women) Office on the Parliamentary Other Courts Religious Bodies Status of Women Women’s Caucus Provincial Offices Steering Commission on CONTRALESA on the Status of Committee to Gender Equality Women Women’s Caucus Gender Units in Provincial Public Service SALGA Line Departments Women’s Caucus Commission Groups Gender Units in Women’s Human Rights Local Empowerment Commission Government Unit Structures SA LAW Commission Public Protector Land Commission Truth Commission RFQ | Effective August 2019 Youth Commission Independent Electoral Commission Over time, some of the structures of the NGM have become defunct and new structures, such as the Department of Women, have emerged.
The policy framework, as it stands, is outdated and needs reviewing to take into account developments since the 1990s.

Challenges facing the national gender machinery The national gender machinery was conceptualised to become the bastion of women’s rights and an important conduit through which women could articulate their policy concerns and issues.

In recent years, however, it is uncertain whether all the structural components of the national gender machinery are working as effectively as they should.
A dialogue on the status of the national gender machinery is apt as the sixth Parliament begins its work.

It creates an appropriate platform for the new Multi-Party Women’s Caucus to build upon a process aimed at strengthening the national gender machinery.

The South African gender machinery, as is the case with such machineries worldwide, is under - resourced and gender analysis expertise in the state has been lacking.
The creation of the national gender machinery has not led to the redistribution of resources and power in ways that change the structural forces on which women’s oppression rests.

There is therefore a need to strengthen the national gender machinery.

Of late, there appears to be a particular set of challenges impeding its work.

It is critical that these challenges are unpacked and addressed.
Gender based violence is a societal scourge, which has been identified as a priority area requiring the collective focus of all sectors of society.

RFQ | Effective August 2019 Purpose of the TOR Following just more than a year on conducting provincial review sessions, we have identified the need to appoint a service provider who can consider and assess the materials and information gathered during the review process, and to put together a final report on the findings, recommendations and a way forward.
The available materials consist of about 90hours of recordings, preliminary reports, statements and presentations.

Proposals to perform this task must take into account the amount of work to done, especially the 90 hours of recordings and the timelines for completion of the work.

Adequate resources must be assigned to the work to ensure a high quality report to be delivered on time.

Times Lines A draft report must be tabled by end March 2021.
A formal session to consider the findings, recommendations and way forward is scheduled for mid-April 2021 Mandatory Submission Requirements All quotations that fail to submit the required documents will be disqualified.

1.Proposals detailing the methodology and approach, which includes timeframes, resources to be allocated, 2.The proposal must also demonstrate requisite capacity and competency to carry out the assignment successfully, 3.
Profile of the company including a description of work previously undertaken and (three) positive contactable references for similar work done 4.Cv’s with biographical details and relevant qualifications must be submitted RFQ | Effective August 2019 BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY LIST THE TWO LARGEST CONTRACTS / ASSIGNMENTS BY YOUR FIRM IN THE LAST TWO YEARS IF ANY OR LIST CONTRACTS WHICH YOUR ORGANISATION IS CURRENTLY ENGAGED IN IF ANY WORK DESCRIPTION YOUR CLIENT CONTACT PERSON CONTACT NUMBER CONTRACT VALUE PROPOSED PRICING SCHEDULE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY TOTAL RFQ | Effective August 2019 DECLARATION OF INTEREST 1.
No contracts to provide goods or services to Parliament may be provided to the following categories of entities: - Member of Parliament, Member of the Cabinet, Member of a Provincial Legislature, Member of a Provincial Executive Council, a Municipal Councilor or a person in the employ of the State whose participation in bidding for the contract may result in a conflict of interest; or any entity in which a person mentioned above is a Director or has a controlling or other substantia l interest.

2.
2.

The bidder is therefore requested to complete Sections a – d of the declaration below in substantiation.

(a) Are you or any person connected with the bidder, a Member of Parliament or a Cabinet Member?

Y N If yes, state whether you are a Director or have a Controlling or other substantial interest in the bidding company.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………........ (b) Are you or any person connected with the bidder, a Member of the Y N Provincial Legislature or a Member of a Provincial Executive Council or a Municipal Councilor If yes, state whether you are a Director or have a Controlling or other substantial interest in the bidding company.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(c) Are you or any person connected with the bidder, Employed by the State?
Y N If yes, state whether you are a director or have a controlling or other substantial interest in the bidding company …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. (d) Do you, or any person connected with the bidder, have any relationship (family, friend, other) with Y N a person employed by Parliament and who may be involved with the evaluation and or adjudication of this bid?
If yes, state whether you are a director or have a controlling or other substantial interest in the bidding company.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
RFQ | Effective August 2019 DECLARATION I hereby agree that, in the event of false, incorrect or misleading information being provided in this declaration, the Secretary to Parliament of the Republic of South Africa shall have the right to:   recover any losses or damages sustained by Parliament under such agreement restrict the supplier from further business with Parliament depending on the materiality of the misrepresentation and the degree of prejudice suffered.
Name of Representative: ___________________________________________________________ Identity number: _______________________________ ____________________________ Signature: ___________________________________________________________ (DULY AUTHORISED TO SIGN FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE ABOVE ENTITY) No Contract to provide goods or services to Parliament may be award ed to - • • • • • a Member of Parliament or a member of the Cabinet A Member of a provincial legislature or a member of a provincial Executive Council; A Municipal Councillor; A person in the employ of the State whose participation in bidding for the contract may result in a conflict of interest; or Any entity in which a person mentioned above is a Director or has a controlling or other substantial interest COMMISSIONER OF OATHS STAMP RFQ | Effective August 2019